Collector’s Corner: The History of the Gold Book Program, Part 2 (Current Valiant)

With the return of Valiant in 2012, the gold program was reinstated and since, every new first issue of an ongoing series has received the gold treatment. The method of acquiring gold books has changed a bit – with the exception of the golden Unity ticket mentioned below – but the program remains the same: as a way to reward fans for their dedication to the company. Gold books can be acquired at conventions by promoting Valiant at a convention (wearing a shirt, helping at the booth, or attending a panel), promoting Valiant to other comic book fans (doing “freeviews”, helping spread the word, etc), or doing something above and beyond for the love of Valiant (Martin received a Gold Rai #1 for naming his dog Gin-GR). Here are some of books that have received the gold treatment in Valiant’s current iteration.

Once VALIANT CEO Dinesh Shamdasani re-launched the VALIANT UNIVERSE in 2012, the publisher continued its tradition of Gold Books.

X-O MANOWAR #1 GOLD was the first of those Gold Books in nearly 20 years!

42,708 copies were printed, and 1,000 Gold Books. Unlike the VALIANT Gold Books of the 1990’s, the *NEW* Gold Books would be usually have 1,000 copies printed as opposed to the 5,000+ of the original VALIANT. That means that modern VALIANT Gold Books are about 5 times as difficult to obtain (in theory).

Archer & Armstrong #1 (Gold Incentive Edition)

ARCHER & ARMSTRONG #1 GOLD
Released in October 2012

23,464 copies were printed, and 1,000 Gold Books.

Also, this was artist Mico Suayan’s first VALIANT cover!

Harbinger #1 (Gold Incentive Edition)

HARBINGER #1 GOLD
Released in February 2013

32,111 copies were printed, and 1,000 Gold Books.

Quantum & Woody (Gold Incentive Edition)

QUANTUM & WOODY #1 GOLD
Released in August 2013

17,622 copies were printed, and 1,000 Gold Books.

Bloodshot #1 (Gold Incentive Edition)

BLOODSHOT #1 GOLD
Released in September 2013

29,224 copies were printed, and 1,000 Gold Books.

This Gold Book was first seen in June 2013, but was officially released September 18, 2013.

Eternal Warrior (Gold Incentive Edition)

ETERNAL WARRIOR #1 GOLD
Released in November 2013

17,224 copies were printed, and 1,000 Gold Books.

Shadowman #1 (Gold Incentive Edition)

SHADOWMAN #1 GOLD
Released in November 2013

25,048 copies were printed, and an UNKNOWN number of Gold Books.

While it is possible that 1,000 Gold Books were printed, fans and collectors know that this book is the HARDEST to locate; and even HARDER to locate in NM+/M 9.8 condition.

Unity #1 (Gold Incentive Edition)

UNITY #1 GOLD
Released in December 2013

60,003 copies were printed, and an UNKNOWN number of Gold Books.

Similar to SHADOWMAN #1 GOLD, this Gold Book is simply not very common. With the largest modern print run of any MODERN VALIANT book, it is likely that 1,000 Gold Books were printed.

Additionally, 5 GOLDEN TICKETS Variants were released, with only 1 of each of the 5 pullbox covers being marked with Gold Ink in the UPC box.

In 2013 VALIANT initiated its UNITY #1 GOLDEN TICKET CONTEST;

The OFFICIAL VALIANT ENTERTAINMENT web page cites the following:

“Valiant is proud to announce a one-of-a-kind promotion – the Unity #1 Golden Ticket Contest, giving fans the chance to win one of ten exclusive prize packages, including tickets to New York Comic Con 2014, courtesy of ReedPOP!

For the first time, Valiant is revealing that it has hidden five #UNITYGOLDENTICKET hashtags on the covers of the Pullbox Exclusive Variants offered with UNITY #1 at five local comic shops across the continental United States. So if you have a copy of Unity #1 featuring cover art by Bryan Hitch, J.G. Jones, Travel Foreman, Paolo Rivera, or Clayton Crain, you could be a winner! Simply examine the UPC box and look for the #UNITYGOLDENTICKET hashtag printed in gold ink.

The success of Valiant’s return has been a grassroots effort since day one, and, with Unity #1 now on shelves as Valiant’s biggest debut of the year, we wanted to give a few lucky fans the chance to share in our success,” said Valiant Publisher Fred Pierce. “Head back to your local comic shop today to ask about Unity #1, and you might just find yourself with a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to join us next year on the floor at New York Comic Con.”

Courtesy of ReedPOP, the ten lucky Unity #1 Golden Ticket winners will each receive one four-day pass to New York Comic Con 2014 – the East Coast’s biggest and most exciting pop culture convention – plus a one-of-a-kind Valiant prize package, complete with a tour of Valiant’s New York City offices, dinner with Valiant editorial staff, and a comprehensive collection of Valiant trade paperbacks and hardcovers.

Each of these books is listed among the RAREST VALIANT BOOKS EVER PRODUCED, and are rivaled only by the SMOTA #3 GOLD TEST, SMOTA #5 GOLD TEST, and (possibly) the BLOODSHOT #0 PINK PROTOTYPE. At the time this article was written, only 3 of 5 GOLDEN TICKETS were accounted for or know to have been found.

Rai #1 (Gold Incentive Edition)

RAI #1 GOLD
Released in April 2014

29,937 copies were printed, and an UNKNOWN number of Gold Books.

It is likely that 1,000 Gold Books were printed.

Ivar, Timewalker #1 (Gold Incentive Edition)

IVAR, TIMEWALKER #1 GOLD
Released in January 2015

15,784 copies were printed, and an UNKNOWN number of Gold Books.

It is likely that 1,000 Gold Books were printed.

X-O Manowar #0 (Gold incentive edition)

X-O Manowar #0 GOLD
Released in November 2014

11,188 copies were printed, and an UNKNOWN number of Gold Books.

Less than 100 copies of this book were handed out to lucky fans in contests at the latter part of 2014 so it’s likely that this gold book may have the lowest print run of any. This is also the only non-#1 to receive the gold treatment.

Jesse Izdepski (aka DBS) is a career military officer, as well as a life-long comic book fan, and original comic art collector. He is a Patreon Sponsor of the Valiant Database Project & also manages the Valiant Universe Fan-Page on Instagram with 75,000+ followers.

Is it possible to find out the print runs of all Valiant books? It’d be nice to be able to estimate the amount of 1:20 vs. 1:50 vs. 1:100 variants of particular titles. And is the Shadowman Retailer Incentive Black Cover variant the rarest VEI variant cover?

Hey Martin, thank you for letting me know about Comicchron. I will check it out. And I did see Jesse’s article when he first published it. And I managed to find a copy of Shadowman 1 Retailer Incentive Black cover in CGC 9.0 a few days ago. I immediately snatched it up and feel lucky to have it. While Jesse’s article doesn’t confirm it’s the rarest VEI variant cover, I have to assume it’d definitely one of them. Cheers!